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An Emirati father has described how his family was pulled over and held at gunpoint by police in Switzerland, before he and his wife were handcuffed in front of their children in a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

Bu Hamad, his wife and two children, four and six, found themselves surrounded by four police cars while driving between Zurich and Lugano while on holiday last week.

Armed officers from the cantonal police of Ticino took them into custody in what the family described as a frightening few hours. It later emerged that the family, which was on holiday in Austria and Switzerland, rented an Audi that police were looking for.

“At first I thought it was because of a traffic violation, but it was too aggressive," said Bu Hamad, 43, a senior financial officer for the government who asked not to be fully identified.

"They stopped traffic on the highway and came to us with their machine guns. They were wearing special forces-style police uniforms.

“They pointed their guns at my head and my wife’s head. They were seven armed officers and they spoke to us in their language, I could not understand anything.”